Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-07-05
TOWARDS LETTER.
Habits Strong Hold on Humsnity-Hay
Fever an MISUNDERSTANDING
end Cigarette Smoking.
why Mon Drink at Certain Hours and
Place-Momory, appetite, Everything
Ruled by Habit,
Ensrnn Glnnc.

New EORR, June 25.-I think there IS
no better illustration of the power OF
habit than the annual recurrence Of hay
fever.
Hay fever IS the most eXaspeTating
form Of c&.arrh, the most annoying de-
velorment of nervous possibility. II
dominates the senses, completely over
pcweriug moral zeEsibi-ity, and while
never dangerous, 5 wreathed about with
al manner If potential i1fsLcilics, de-
strOy ng temper, making life wretched,
L goes - different names. Il
IS called rose cold, strawberry snC1lles,
catsrrn, nay fever. It's marked peculiar
ity is the regularity Il its appearance or
or about particular day VI q specified
month. About q week before ii makes
its initial snecze for the season, the vic
tim anticipates Its coming. 1t is his
habit 70 sneeze in June, July or August,
S. the fact may be. lie expects to
writhe, TO choke, 10 tickle, TO sneeZe, 10
sit up in the middle Of the nigh, and
swear, i5st as absolutely as he expects to
nav his rent, 10 defray MS ordinary eX-
penses.
Habit is the master Of the world.
Take 8 slim-buiIt fellow, nervous. need
ing sleep, accustomed for years to irreg-
plaTi.ies Of eating and resting, and put
MIN az work in The Office OF q morning
newspaper, where his hours are from
a. night until in the morning You
think very naturally that he viii grow
thinner and palCT, and be more nervous,
ON the contrary, after few days and
nights, the habit Of routine work, the
habit OF routine hours VIII settle upon
him nd in HIN, and in SIX months from
the date Of MS commencement he will
gain in weight, his nerves viii be
stronger, MS muscles harder. and
MS general condition improved, not
alone because of the regularity, ut bbe
cause OF the regularity of his work, the
habit Of his occupation. Men WaO turn
night into day, as tens OF thousands OF
newspaper workers are compelled TO,
benefit very largely by the change. They
are spared the BTOiljngs of the midday
sun. They avoid very largely the crowds
upon The streets, end although they are
stirred a times 10 the verge Of nervous
excitement by the eXaCtiOus of peremp
tory duty, and the pushings and fOrcings
of much work In little time, the night
workers Of the press, IS rule, are the
healthier of the two sets.
have q pTOfane frienG-seyeral of US
have
am very fond Of him and see much Of
him. His che habit is profanity. lie
swears pretty much all the time, He Is
NERVOUS, oUICE-TFNFEEED, HASTT
in manner, and his calculations are al
most invariably uniquely prOfaLe, and yet
l nave noticed thai ia certain spheres he
never sweaTs. lie divides UucODsCiously
MS inclination in that way into two
habits, the habit Of excessive profanity
and the habit Of none Whatever. In
ordinary intercourse, in the office, on the
street, in the cafe, bright snd Jolly and
witty and brilliant, he is always profane.
This Is his habit. lie could no more
give emphatic weight 10 an argument or
sentence without q utilization OF Cuss
words, than the sWallOwCOuH mount the
air without her wings on the other
hand when with his mother and sisters,
q the table, he would nc more think of
using a profane word than he would think
of cutting his throat.
Habit absolutely owns the man.
have another friend whose habit Of
cigarette smoking is the one evidence, so
far as his living IS concerned, Of the pos
sjbility of g union between man and beast.
He smokes going TO bed, he lies in bed for
hours reading and smoking. He smokes
in the bath tub, he smokes between the
courses OF his dinner, he smokes when
studying, when reading, when writing;
he smokes when riding, when driving,
when walking; his fingers are stained vel.
low with the nasty stuff, and It is
mis- habit, and, as ne says, were
that kind Of tobacco TO be bsnIshed from
the fsce Of the earth ne wouldn't care 10
remSln. knowing, however, tire extreme
Cffeuse it is to me, understanding per
iectly that nicotine in al its forms is q
specific poison 10 me, and thst en- epjOy-
able smoke Of half an hour means 3 dis
nal bellysche Tor ten consecutive days 20
me, the moment | approach he throws
his cigarette away. II has become MS
ha5it, and though the scent OF the 'baCcy
may hang round him still, leaving 'only
man as vile,' so lar IS Tie hsbit Is cor
Cerned, It rules him while we ere to
getlCr. It's
a PERFECT ILLUSTRATION
of the power Of habit.
Four or five weeks sgo l bought some
lottery tickets with two or three other
men, and out of an investment of S50I
among Us there came d return OF s.. The
semi-2nnual drawing Of the Louisiana
lottery took place on the nth Of this
month, and for the fun Of the thing
clipped in with my former experimenters
and my share consisted Of two halves
and four quarters, in other words $50
worth Yesterday l received the official
notification of the drawing. The otter
men drew nothing. There were
six or seven Of us, each Of
whom put in $40 None Of NY
tickets drew sny;hing either, but the
ticket which drew capital prize Of $780,
600 ended in figure IS, and according TO
the rules established, ell tickets which
end IS the one which draws the capital
prize ends (in this instance So are en-
titled to 500 each One Of nay quarters
ended in IS, so was entitled to q quar-
ter Of the 500, namely S25, and ] got
S25 for my investment of $50, We were
talking about it in the Aston House last
evening, and as we did so q spectral form
approached, gaunt-fsced, scraggly-
haired, thinning, bearded man, who beck
oned 10 one of my friends, said "For
heavens sake, Bill, let me have 80
cents"
Bill gave him 81 and the man moved
When he had gone from the roturda
Bill said: That's curious coincidence.
Ten years ago that man was worth S+0,-